Gwenivere the Great

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She is the epic Queen of history and chronicle, bounteous of her gifts to the knights of the Round Table, and she is also the tragic heroine of romance, deserving of our pity for having been given in marriage to a man she must respect but cannot love and fated to love a man she cannot marry. (263) Former Allies: Morgana Pendragon † • Nimueh † • Cedric † ? • Cornelius Sigan † • Tristan de Bois † • Lady Catrina † • Edwin Muirden † • Uther Pendragon † • Agravaine de Bois †• Sefa• Mordred † There is a hint from Malory that Guinevere may have set up her own abduction, perhaps as some kind of test as she deliberately leaves her own company of guards, the Queen’s Knights, behind to rely on ten lightly armed knights without their armour. It may be that Arthur, for all his greatness, was ageing and with age lost his former vitality and potency. Therefore, a younger, more dynamic replacement was needed to ensure the fertility of the land. It was Lancelot she sent for to rescue her and not her husband.

Gwen’s suspicions of Morgana increase when she sees Morgana with an old woman who is actually Morgause in disguise and when Morgana coldly tells her to get out of her room, to the point that she secretly discovers that Morgana has magic and she tells Gaius of her discovery. This makes Gwen aware that Morgana has turned against Camelot, making her the third person in Camelot after Merlin and Gaius to know of Morgana’s true loyalties ( The Eye of the Phoenix). The character of Gwen is based on Guinevere, the wife of Arthur and Queen of the Britons, in the Arthurian legends. Guinevere appears in the earliest stories of Arthur as his faithful wife. The Welsh Triad names the three queens of Arthur, all three named Gwenhwyfar. It is widely accepted that the famous Gwenhwyfar of legend is the third one mentioned; she is the "daughter of Gogfran the Giant." Geoffrey of Monmouth portrays Guinevere as a noble lady with a Roman heritage, raised by Duke Cador of Cornwall. The recurring theme of her love affairs, whether by consent or abduction, has many variations. Early stories give Arthur as her rescuer, while later the rescuer is Lancelot.Although peace is restored to Camelot, Gwen has to look after Uther for a year as he is still shaken by Morgana’s betrayal. Gwen tells Gaius that she is only doing it for Arthur’s sake and not Uther’s. Meanwhile, Morgana attempts to take revenge on Camelot again by summoning creatures known as the Dorocha and Arthur plans to sacrifice himself to defeat them. Before leaving, he tearfully says goodbye to Uther and comforts Gwen by reminding her of the day he first kissed her. Gwen then goes to Lancelot, telling him to keep Arthur safe and he promises that he will protect Arthur with his life. Loomis, Roger Sherman (2000). The Development of Arthurian Romance. Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-40955-9. Because of training, she became more handsome rather than saying beautiful. She turned to be a plumpy woman of average height. She had dark blue eyes and long dark golden hair which implies her characteristic of Scandinavian blood. She was one of the richest women and also a great warrior with highly fair skin. She received a lot many proposals for marriage, but she found none of them suitable. The Love Story of Queen and Lancelot The Quest for Guinevere After Arthur’s death she fled to a nunnery where she remained until her death. The remaining living Knights of the Round Table bore her body to Arthur’s tomb where she was buried. Mediavilla, Cindy (21 March 1999). "Arthurian fiction: an annotated bibliography". Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press – via Internet Archive.

There are furthermore several other variants of this motif in medieval literature. In Ulrich's Lanzelet, Valerin, the King of the Tangled Wood, claims the right to marry her and carries her off to his castle in a struggle for power that reminds scholars of her prescient connections to the fertility and sovereignty of Britain. Arthur's company saves her, but Valerin kidnaps her again and places her in a magical sleep inside another castle surrounded by snakes, where only the powerful sorcerer Malduc can rescue her. In Heinrich's Diu Crône, Guinevere's captor is her own brother Gotegrim, intending to kill her for refusing to marry the fairy knight Gasozein who falsely [37] claims to be her lover and rightful husband (and who also appears as the young Guinevere's human lover named Gosangos in the Livre d'Artus), [38] and her saviour is Gawain. In Durmart le Gallois, Guinevere is delivered from her peril by the eponymous hero. In the Livre d'Artus, she is briefly taken prisoner by King Urien during his rebellion against Arthur. The 14th-century Welsh poet Dafydd ap Gwilym alludes to Guinevere's abduction in two of his poems.Marie and Chretien both present a recognizable individual with specific motivation for her actions. In Marie's story, Guinevere does not love her husband and is bored, so she has affairs with Arthur's knights. In Chretien's tale, Guinevere does seem to care for Arthur but, as with the Tristan and Isolde paradigm, her true love is Arthur's best friend and greatest knight, Lancelot. Guinevere as Goddess Ashley, Mike (1 September 2011). The Mammoth Book of King Arthur. Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 9781780333557– via Google Books. Early texts tend to portray her inauspiciously or hardly at all. One of them is Culhwch and Olwen, in which she is mentioned as Arthur's wife Gwenhwyfar and listed among his most prized possessions, [23] but little more is said about her. [24] It can not be securely dated; one recent assessment of the language by linguist Simon Rodway places it in the second half of the 12th century. [25] The works of Chrétien de Troyes were some of the first to elaborate on the character Guinevere beyond simply the wife of Arthur. This was likely due to Chrétien's audience at the time, the court of Marie, Countess of Champagne, which was composed of courtly ladies who played highly social roles. [26] Guinevere and Iseult by William Morris (1862) Lacy, Norris J.; Ashe, Geoffrey; Mancoff, Debra N. (2014). The Arthurian Handbook: Second Edition. Routledge. ISBN 978-1317777434. Queen was abducted by the Kings nephew Mordred. King Arthur had to attend a military campaign and handed over the charge to his nephew Mordred. He was desperate for power and wanted to satisfy this power hunger by taking over Great Britain. He thought he would achieve this by marrying Queen Guinevere and rule over Britain.

Gwen continues to aid Merlin in his adventures in every way she can. Growing up in Camelot she had been open about her dislike for Prince Arthur. However, she soon gets the opportunity to get to know him better (when he lives with her for a few days during a jousting competition). She realises her opinions of him had been too harsh and based on shallow conclusions ( The Moment of Truth, The Once and Future Queen). She and Arthur begin to fall in love, though their different social classes form barriers. It is hinted when Gwen was brainwashed into allying with Morgana that she is barren, as she says to Leon "Arthur has no other family to succeed him." This could be a nod to most versions of the legend where Guinevere is unable to bear Arthur's heir. This hasn't been confirmed as being true. However in Perlesvaus, which is an Old French Arthurian romance, Guinevere and Arthur have a legitimate and biological son named Loholt. Guinevere is a supporting character in Gerald Morris' The Squire's Tales. She starts the series as King Arthur's newly-wedded queen and ends it as Sister Arthur, peacefully living in a convent after Arthur's departure.

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After the death of Arthur, Guinevere went to a convent, spending the rest of her life in praying Almighty and helping the poor that are in need. She was filled with a lot of guilt for the problems that were caused by the affair between her and Lancelot, so she promised never to meet him again ever in her life. After her death, she chose to be buried near King Arthur and that was fulfilled. Koch, John T.; Minard, Antone (1 April 2012). The Celts: History, Life, and Culture. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781598849646– via Google Books. Gwen accompanies Arthur to Camlann, saying that she cannot bear the thought of waiting for days for a man who might never return. She and Arthur share a last night together, during which Arthur reconfirms that her confidence is all he needs to succeed, before Merlin calls him away to the battle. Gwen helps Gaius in the makeshift hospital during the battle, and even takes up arms against one of Morgana's warriors when he breaks into the tent. She watches in awe as Merlin, disguised as Dragoon the Great, smites Morgana's forces and chastises Aithusa. She asks Gaius whether he knows who the sorcerer is. Göller, Karl Heinz (1981). The Alliterative Morte Arthure: A Reassessment of the Poem. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. ISBN 978-0859910750.